Tuesday, November 06, 2007

List of the Week


While it still doesn’t exactly qualify as writing, last week’s effort at jumpstarting the creative process by making a list proved such a ratings bonanza that I’ve opted to make it a regular feature.

In 1973, I was watching Sesame Street twice a day and listening to radio religiously. I was an only child at the time, but thanks to the older children of my parents’ friends, I was exposed to a stream of 45 rpm records, mini-platters that mattered, stacks of wax that blew my impressionable mind. For their own sadistic amusement, adults would play singles while I sang into the handle of a curtain string, my imaginary microphone of choice. Trip recently made an off-hand reference to one of my favorite tunes of the era, and I turned wistful, that sense of time and place rushing back. And so here is the list of the ten greatest songs of all-time, as determined by me at age five:

1. The Osmonds – “Down by the Lazy River”
2. Sweet – “Ballroom Blitz” listen
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Proud Mary”
4. The DeFranco Family – “Heartbeat (It’s a Love Beat)”
5. The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”
6. Joe Tex – “I Gotcha” listen
7. Daddy Dewdrop – “Chick-A-Boom”
8. The Jackson Five – “ABC”
9. Melanie – “Brand New Key”
10. Badfinger – “Day After Day” listen

What were your top ten songs at age five? Leave your list in the comments.

16 comments:

Trip McClatchy said...

Amazing... your top top 10 songs at age 5 is a mirror image of my top 10 songs at age 50. Except I'd trade out "Brand New Key" for "Montego Bay" by Bobby Bloom.

"Sing out; oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Come sing me La
Come sing me Montego Bay
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh"


WFIL and WIBG live!!

Kevin McClatchy said...

UH-OH, CHONGO!!!


1. The Tra La La Song — The Banana Splits

2. I Want You Back — Jackson 5

3. Hooked On A Feeling - B.J. Thomas

4. Dizzy — Tommy Roe

5. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf

6. Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) - Manfred Mann

7. I Think I Love You — Partridge Family

8. Both Sides Now - Judy Collins

9. Wedding Bell Blues — The 5th Dimension

10. Angel of the Morning - Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts

Unknown said...

I can only assume I was listening to whatever Trip was listening...how do you guys remember this stuff??

Michael Atchison said...

How do we remember?!? How could we forget?

Unknown said...

Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
American Woman - The Guess Who
Go All the Way - The Raspberries
ABC - The Jackson 5
We're an American Band - Grand Funk Railroad (45 on yellow vinyl!!)

lahuitrefrite said...

Raised on a diet of 68 WCBM AM, Broadway musicals, and my parents small, but quirky, record collection, I give you:

"Rocky Mountain High" - John Denver
"Mrs Robinson" - Simon & Garfunkel
"Yellow Submarine" - The Beatles
"Delta Dawn" - Helen Reddy
"Surrey With the Fringe on Top" - from "Oklahoma"
"Joy to the World" - Three Dog Night
"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" - Lynn Anderson
"Cattle Call" - Eddy Arnold
"Chim-Chim Cheree" - from "Mary Poppins"
"Day-O" - Harry Belafonte

Michael Atchison said...

Ah, yes, Lynn Anderson. An essential track from my childhood.

From the lists submitted, it looks like all of us (save Grandpa Teek) are hovering around forty. I could easily have substituted Kevin's, Bill's or Madame Oyster's lists for mine.

Shuggie said...

I don't know who Billy's Live Bait is, but I sure did dig the Gear Daddies.

Just how many McClatchy's are there?

Unknown said...

hands down, my fave band of all-time.

although i'm no mcclatchey, i'm a friend of both.

don said...

I'm having trouble coming up with a touchstone for 5. Thinking about the house we lived in then and that may have been about the time I figured out how to play the melody to Donovan's "Atlantis" on the piano. I know that at 3 my favorite song was "Downtown". The Banana Splits song had to be a fave. I was a member of the Banana Splits Club, want to see my membership card?

don said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lahuitrefrite said...

Don said "Downtown." Damn I loved that song. And I forgot "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head." My dad still sings that one.

don said...

The thing about "Raindrops..." is that it reminds me of that scene in Butch Cassidy. The one thing that really dates that movie.

Scott McClatchy said...

The Bugaloos ... 'nuff said :-)

Evilwoman said...

I think you Piple were all child musical prodigies.
Or you all had older sibs. ;)

At FIVE, I was listening to whatever my parents had on the record player for me.
The Theme to Romper Room.
Teddy Bear Picnic.
My mother singing Peg O' My Heart or When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
Maybe some show tunes if she was feeling extra frisky.

Either that or I'm just so freakin' old I can't remember correctly.
So excuse me while I wheel my walker over to the corner and set for a spell to ease my lumbago.

Andy Whitman said...

At age 5 I had yet to discover music on my own, and so I was listening to whatever my parents were listening to, plus a smattering of songs from my already burgeoning Disney record collection. Some highlights:

Quack Quack Quack Went Donald Duck -- Donald Duck
I'm a Happy Mouse -- Mickey Mouse
Dominique -- The Singing Nun
High Hopes -- Frank Sinatra
Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be) -- Doris Day
Theme from "A Summer Place" -- Percy Faith
Greenfields -- The Brothers Four
Sink the Bismark -- Johnny Horton
Ferrante and Teicher -- Play West Side Story
Ray Conniff Singers -- It's the Talk of the Town

It got better once I wrested radio control away from parents, thanks to the aqua transistor radio I received for my 6th birthday.